Daily Archives: August 12, 2014

Why do I get the feeling that Spurrier sounds like he doesn’t give a rat’s ass if the other side knows the call (“yeah, there’s a player lined up in the right slot and we’re gonna fake a draw here, pods… you still aren’t gonna stop it”)?

Over the first half of 2014, the NCAA already broke its record of yearly lobbying expenditures. During 2013, the NCAA spent $160,000 on lobbying. This year, as of June 30, it has already spent $240,000. That includes $180,000 just in the second quarter, which covers April to June.

Gee, I wonder what’s been going on lately. Maybe this is an indication.

A new topic appears on every lobbying disclosure filed after March 2014: the “welfare” or “well-being” of student athletes.

Isn’t that just the sweetest? Why, I bet those folks in Congress are ever so impressed.

Recently, Alabama flipped a Georgia commit. One reason given for his change of heart: facilities.

Recruiting is an ‘arms race’ and many schools use its facilities as a ‘wow factor’ in getting a commitment. Saban has invested a lot of money into upgrading Alabama’s athletic facilities. Alabama has one of the nicest indoor practice facilities in the nation and Georgia is currently building one. Alabama’s facilities were a contributing factor in McGraw’s decision to flip to the Crimson Tide.

“Every program in the country wants to win the ‘wow’ factor with recruits,” McGraw replied. “Certainly as a recruit, Alabama’s facilities catch your eye immediately.”

Maybe McGarity should have shown him the reserve account balance. It’s pretty impressive in its own way.

The receivers are too good for this, but there are times when I can’t help but wonder if Georgia should just load up blockers on the line and pound the crap out of other teams this season with the running game.

Andy Staples has a good piece on how coaches who don’t land five-stars after five-stars have to project futures for the recruits they do get.

And while I think the recruiting services do a decent job evaluating talent overall, it always amuses me when they don’t see kids like Todd Gurley and Amari Cooper coming.

And here’s the latest “we’re from the government and we’re here to help” department. Hey, it’s bipartisan!

Her ruling in this area may have bigger ramifications than its impact on the NCAA.

Michael Hausfeld, a lead attorney for the O’Bannon plaintiffs, said his team will now consider whether to take any legal action against networks for use of players’ NILs.

“It’s an open field right now because of the antitrust violation,” Hausfeld said. “We’re going to have to take a look at what our next letter might be to ESPN or CBS or Turner. We’ve been looking at it. For example, maybe we don’t go to the larger networks, but go right to the Big Ten Network or Pac-12 Network. Here you have a conference with a most direct relationship to an athlete. They’re clearly use the name, image and likeness.”

Larry Scott’s decision to go it alone on the Pac-12 Network looks more and more expensive every day.

So guess which conference commissioner has the most strident reaction to Wilken’s decision.

“We are pleased that the judge recognized the educational component of college athletics, and the importance of integrating academics and athletics in this decision. There are a number of legal questions of some significance that must be answered to fully understand the ultimate consequence of this decision, and how to comply with it.

Together with the change in NCAA governance that was approved just a day earlier, this decision reemphasizes the fact that we are going through a historic evolution of the landscape of college sports and it is incumbent upon all of us to be thoughtful and deliberate in building a better future for our institutions and our student-athletes.”

In other words, as long as nobody screws with autonomy, he can live with it.

Bowlsby said the ruling did not move to anything that would be perceived as professional sports and that the “collegiate model” remains largely intact.

“This operates inside the higher education environment, and the fact that the payments for name, image and likeness can’t be manipulated prior to departure from school, I think is a pretty significant distinction,” Bowlsby said. “I don’t think it’s anybody’s perfect solution, but I think it falls short of having an open marketplace where the individuals are differentially compensated.”

“We fundamentally disagree with the O’Bannon court’s ruling that the NCAA and our collegiate model violate anti-trust laws in any way. Our system provides untold opportunities and beneficial life experiences for the almost 7,000 Pac-12 student-athletes every year, and we are intent on improving the system to do even more to benefit young people for generations to come. While we plan to support the NCAA on their appeal of this ruling, we will be working with our institutions to develop next steps in the event the appeal is not successful.”

Maybe Larry’s just more concerned about student-athletes than his peers. But I bet his presidents are wondering if he’s as smart as they thought he was a year ago.

This is an odd time for Florida. Even in 2012, fan interest in Muschampball seemed to wane at times (it’s certainly not particularly pleasant to the eye), and in 2013, when injuries forced him to get creative to avoid disaster, he couldn’t do it. It’s hard to be too pessimistic about a program that was 11-2 just one full season ago, but it’s hard to be particularly optimistic about a team that looked as bad as Florida did for much of last year.

Thanks to recruiting and 2012, in the Football Outsiders Almanac 2014 the Gators get a faithful No. 30 projection, with a likely record of 7-5 (29 percent chance of 8-4 or better, 38 percent chance of 6-6 or worse). That’s as good a starting point as any for expectations, but the odds of another 2012 are small.

Quote Of The Day

“It's definitely different not knowing exactly who it's gonna be, but in a way, I feel like that's good,” he said. “One of my old coaches from Valdosta told me that competition is one of the best coaches. And I feel like, as well as each one of those three guys is performing, they're not gonna do anything but make each other better.” -- Jay Rome, The Red & Black, 3/25/15